Online training – has your view changed in the age of COVID

Yep still see people on Facebook trumping the value of on line classes it's only useful if you can't get any other sort of hands on training in an art you already have good experience in, otherwise it's better to do fitness stuff to get ready for when classes start again.

said idiots were being e trained from across the Atlantic rather than actually find a decent coach locally before the lockdown because they couldn't bear to actually go along to a proper class and become a student again, they would rather mislead their students and be on line trained, sad really

 

As someone who does live yoga classes I need the camera to see and show newcomers what to do and give corrections and pointers but that comes with knowing cues and how to teach using language they can understand. With martial arts which has the context of an opponent, unless you are practicing drills you have done before all you can do is use them for movement reference which is a start but doesnt help much.

I actually regularly research other styles and own a number of the panther productions DVD sets on a number of styles I can't find much reference for and got very cheap. I also have done a few teachable courses in the past to learn ABOUT a style as opposed to learning the style itself. Every now and then, I find a tactic or drill I can apply to what I know already, but it's not like saying I can take Sifu Ross's Lama Pai teachable course and KNOW Lama Pai, I can just take a few things away like 'that's a way to use X that I didn't know before, when we get back sparring I may try applying that...' at most. Youtube can be a good source at times but frankly I cannot wait to get back training.

 

With how the world is going, I might consider joining an online club at this point. There's a british based Savate school who are doing online lessons but only do gradings etc in person, so I may join them to keep learning.

 

We just had a first week of online trainings since everything has been closed again. Tuesday was our dojo's teacher teaching, Thursday was the teacher from another dojo. It is nice that anyone can join, no matter their location. We just bought a new webcam for this purpose and did a test call with the other teacher, who asked for help with picking a new one as well. The online era has come. We have an advantage that there is two of us from the same club living together, so we can even do the partner drills, too.

 

I guess it depends.. my wife learned yoga entirely online over the last 6 years. She now teaches Yoga...both in studio and online. So there is that. After all...isn't martial arts just a sequence of movements. Do them right and you got the art down...right? I know Black Belts/Black Sash's that cant move or fight worth a damn...they are terrible. But they know the sequence of the Kata's and forms and the techniques...they have high black belts..are they legit? Yea maybe it depends.. I also know dudes with limited classical MA experience, who can destory even the most adept MA dude in the ring.

So I guess it depends what you goals are with MA... Maybe yes, maybe no... but I think if online training is done right...then yea it could be legit.

 

Learning any kind of physical activity without having simeone there to test your structure and posture is sub optimal at best.

I wouldn't learn any physical art from someone that didn't have hands on training with an actual teacher but that's just me.

 

As someone who generally agrees, I have a differing philosophy when it comes to close arts. For example, doing online Karate of one type when you have a base in another, or Savate when youve done kickboxing, when there if a lot of overlap.

Grappling is another matter

 

I agree if you have experience you can pick it up better if it's something similar, but I still wouldn't want to learn from you lol

Case in point I knew semi contact kickboxing and full contact, I had an interest in Thai so watched a few videos trained with a friend and thought I knew what I was doing, I then went to Leicester shootfighters and trained with Paul Daley and realised I didn't know much.

The first time I went to a powerlifting gym I realised even though I was experienced in strength training I had a lot to learn still.

Nothing beats hands on training and I personally wouldn't learn an art from someone who had no hands on experience no matter what they training history was in other arts

 

Except, as a newcomer, how does one determine if they are doing it "right"?
They may be able to recreate the vague outer shape, but alignment, weight shift, a thousand small details that can't be learnt from watching a video. These will be missing.

I'd be very cautious learning any physical activity from someone with no formal training. The risk of inadvertent long term injury is too great if the "teacher" doesn't know what they're looking out for.

 

If you haven't applied a technique against a real person in a stress testing environment, you can't do it.

 

Ever done Kenpo...that's all it is. But I hear you. Some arts through are just that, a series of movements. It is what it is.

 

Oh, I doubt that.

 

To quote someone justifying being totally video trained by their current instructor who they actually teach under

"You all said online training couldn't be done, then were forced by covid-19 to go online"

Being forced to do something temporarily because of a global pandemic and choosing to do something because you don't want to actually go to a class and become a beginner again are two totally different things

As is doing something because you have to under current law even though you know it's sub standard and choosing to do it because you think it's the best way to train

And no i still wouldn't train anything with the person saying the above because I know a large part of what they teach they have learned online and only ever tested with their own students

 

My opinion of it has changed in the sense that it’s better than no training at all. However, it isn’t really the same. At best I feel your maintaining what you have and aren’t really progressing.

That being said, we returned to in-person learning but social distancing is enforced. So essentially it’s just performing Kata and movements in the air while everyone has a mask and is 6 feet or more apart. It’s a far cry from regular training. At least it allows the instructor to correct you, but it is not the martial arts training I’ve grown to love over the past 15 years. That being said, this will pass. Covid won’t be forever, keep working out and stay in shape and we’ll be back to normalcy and this will all be a distant, bad memory.

 

On the other hand it means schools will be set up to have video streams and can offer that as a component of in-person training. Miss a night? See the video, maybe gain something you wouldn't have.

 

Yup, as a supplemental tool that makes a lot of sense.

 

As someone who's done a bit of both, and online training before it was cool, I have to say that online training is only as good as whomever you grab to train with and how much dedication to the system you're willing to put in. Being regular with sending videos for feedback helps too, your instructor should be grilling you once in a while about it if he gives half a damn. A lot don't and put in lots of airs to deflect their neglect. Going into a drastically different martial art from what you're used to can be a bit jarring and you can end up spending a lot of time and money before you realize it's truly not suited for your body and/or temperament.

But to be quite frank, if you're at a level where you can understand what's "bullshido" and what isn't, you probably don't need the online martial art courses to be a good fighter, or law enforcement, or soldier, or ninja warrior, or Taliban militia or whatever. Only pick stuff up if you're really curious about the art for whatever reason. Otherwise, you're really better off practicing what you've learnt if it fits you well.